THE BEST OF TIMES AND THE WORST OF TIMES

THE BEST OF TIMES are when we put our best foot forward, when we believe in ourselves and feel empowered to be the best we can be. THE WORST OF TIMES are when we don't believe in ourselves, when we do not feel empowered and when we turn to excuses and victimhood instead of moving forward and solving our own problems. Which kind of person do the "progressives" encourage? Do they really want you to be able to solve your own problems and get on with your life WITHOUT THEM?? Well, if their programs weren't needed they would lose all their power and disappear. So what do you think they want - THE BEST OF TIMES OR THE WORST OF TIMES?

I would say they want victims. I would say they want millions of very poor people to come into this country illegally from Central and South America because this gives them people that want and need their services. I would say that a strong and independent America is a threat to the "progressives". If you are doing well you don't need "progressives" to change things.

Personally I want a strong, free and independent America. I want people who are self sufficient. I taught students to become strong and independent when I taught school. I taught them to work hard and climb the ladder of success. I taught them that this was possible and that they were by no means victims. This is the rugged individual ethos that "progressives" decry. Why, if it were true, they wouldn't be needed at all!! So they sneer at teaching children that they can be strong and independent and free. Anyone who does not believe all their nonsense has "blinders" on according to them.

But, lets look at the real picture. We hear continually that the earth is warming because of the emissions from our cars and the industrial world. We hear that children are starving in our communities by the thousands. We hear that there is a homeless epidemic in our schools. We hear that there are mental health epidemics everywhere. We hear that the middle class is disappearing. We hear that students must learn about sex in school. We hear that families won't parent. We hear that second hand smoke in open arenas and parks is killing people. Is any of this true? Most of us read this crap in the News Paper and shake our heads and go on to the next story. The propaganda goes on and most of us try to ignore it.

NO, the earth is not warming and nor is their any proof that earth temperature changes are caused by carbon emissions. No, children in America are not starving by the thousands because there is no food available. In fact, exccept for possibly a rare case of child neglect by sick and or drug addicted or alcohol dependent people who should not be allowed to keep their children, children are not starving. As I have said on this blog MANY TIMES- I NEVER CAME ACROSS A STARVING CHILD IN THIRTY YEARS OF TEACHING. NO ONE CAME IN PALE OR CRYING OR PASSED OUT FROM HUNGER!! The left has to propagate these myths to get you to buy in to their ethos. Families do parent, some better than others, as it always has been. There is no proof that second hand smoke kills. Mental health is real and tragic, but except for the new increase in drug dependency brought on by the "progressives" who believe marijuana should be legalized and won't control our borders to keep the drug trafficking out, and the increased breakdown in the family brought about by these same individuals who taught us "free love", mental health is about what it always has been. Actually, children can figure out how to make babies without the "progressives" training them from kindergarten. Teaching about health and how to stay safe does not require teaching about different types of sexuality. Just teach about diseases and that they can be contracted by exchanging fluids. The point is, "progressives" have to lie to try to keep their ethos going. They have to lie and manipulate the public.They have to exaggerate things and contnually keep us in the WORST OF TIMES. And by the way, have any of their solutions worked in 50 years? Has bullying stopped? Has drug abuse even dropped? Has mental health improved? You need look no farther than the Black communities or the Tribal nations to answer this question. NO, "PROGRESSIVE" PROGRAMS HAVE NOT SOLVED ANYTHNG AND THEIR ETHOS HAS MADE THINGS MUCH, MUCH WORSE.

There was a Letter to the Editor in our paper the other day about banning smoking and chewing tobacco in parks. The author rightly expressed that there is no health hazard there. But many people will want to jump up and say, yes!yes!yes! we do need laws to stop tobacco use in parks. Why is this so? Because people like to control. It is a weakness of man to need to feel empowered by controling others. The "progressives" drive a big old truck through this weakness. The whole child concept in school is driven by this. We must, we must, we must- everyone is starving, everyone is under threat, everyone needs, needs, needs. No they don't. From health fads to seatbelts - Americans need to just stop supporting the need to control others. If you want your freedom you need to buck up and feel strong, smart, and powerful just controlling yourself. We really don't need Washington D.C. bureaucrats to write curriculums for our schools (yes- telling what to teach IS A CURRICULUM!! More lies again.) We really can make decisions about our safety and health and that of our children. We really can parent and teach our children. We really can support ourselves. We really can stop listening to lies, and propaganda. We really can stop letting the "progressives" manipulate our lives and our thoughts and ideas. We really can think for ourselves and be a free and strong nation once again. We really can stop the U.N. and the Federal Government from their one world agenda and get them out of our schools and out of our lives. Let's start getting our pride from our strong country and who we are as individuals and as a nation instead of from these continual made up agendas. WE CAN BE OUR BEST SELVES AND HAVE THE BEST OF TIMES!! WE CAN QUIT LIVING IN THIS WORLD OF OUR WORST SELVES- THE WORST OF TIMES!!

PARENTAL RIGHTS

Parental rights are representative government. Parental rights are freedom. Parental rights are what this country is all about. Parental rights are what we need to fight for.

I went to a Montana Board of Public Education meeting the other day and I thought "Anyone viewing this meeting would understand how Hitler got control over Europe, or how Stalin got control over the Soviet empire". We all need jobs and as winter comes on here in Montana we all are apt to feel vulnerable to the elements. We all worry about our security, our home and our food. Losing a job is a terrible thing. Some people are brave and are willing to work harder and to take risks. Some people need to follow, to be sheep, to get that government job and allow the powers at be to control them in any way. They are not going to ask questions or to challenge anything. They are going to go along so that they can get that security that we all crave.

I watched as the one parent there was told to sit down in the middle of her testimony. I watched as one board member told her she was ignorant because she did not realize that Montana had the most freedom in education of any state. Why anyone who wants to can just leave!! We had to sit there and we could not answer back that THESE ARE OUR SCHOOLS!! WE PAY FOR THEM!! WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO LEAVE!! THE SCHOOLS SHOULD SERVE US!! THE PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD IS OUR SERVANT!! We could say nothing, and I know that this scenario is played out across this country. The government workers are so loyal. They are so bought in. They are furious with anyone who tries to upset their apple cart. The outsiders who question things are just trouble makers!! The board members? They are picked because of their compliant natures. What an honor- I am on the State Schoolboard because I will keep my mouth shut and go along. They have their jobs and their futures to look out for. One board member did mention that maybe they should wait for the legislature to act before they went forward with the mandated preschool curriculum and mandated training requirements for preschool teachers. In the end she voted for everything exactly the way the Office of Public Instruction and the Governor wanted her to. The vote was unanimous as it always is.

I learned something through this whole exercise. I learned that doing your homework- doing the research- is important. It didn't change their vote, that was arranged long before the meeting, but it did in some small way hold them accountable. My testimony will be in the record and the legislators that I correspond with will know these things too. Fortunately, a legislator that I know asked me to go to the state law library and research about how the Montana State Board of Education came to be. So my husband and I did this. The state board was created in our constitution in 1972 to hold the Office of Public Instruction accountable and to protect LOCAL CONTROL!! Our very superior acting ( that's the only thing superior about her I can tell you), state superintendent, Denise Juneau , called on her legal council to show us all how the state board was perfectly within their rights to mandate curriculums. He got out the very book on constitution and commentary that my husband and I had done our research in! He skipped over all the parts about the board being established to protect local control which was stated over and over, and read one little sentence that said the state board had supervisory powers. Then he very pompously took his seat. I'm guessing he was very surprised to find that I had been reading the same book. I used to think that lawyers knew special things. This guy really disillusioned me - he didn't even know as much as I did about the governance of this board. I shared my information with the board and gave them copies from the book with all the statements about the state board protecting local control underlined. I know what I'm dealing with here- but everything has a beginning and at least our superintendent and her legal council didn't get away with just lying this time- for once.

I looked right at Denise and asked her how this board changed from its supervisory role to one of CREATING THE CURRICULUM!! There was no answer of course, that's how these things go. I accused the Montana State Board of Education of being the rubber stamp brigade. Then, something REALLY AMAZING  happened.

One of the board members, Mary Jo Bremmer, stated that she didn't like being called the rubber stamp brigade. After all, they couldn't be expected to know all this and do all this research so they relied on their experts!! Their "experts" are  the people who work for the Office of Public Instruction!! In other words, she sees her role as just voting the way they tell her!! This poor woman doesn't even know that she's supposed to question the Office of Public Instruction and hold them accountable. She really believes the board was created just to rubber stamp!! Do you see what I mean about Hitler and Stalin? It takes true vigilance and courage to keep a nation free.

Meanwhile one of Denise Juneau's lackys brought out her "research". She said that these preschool programs were like almost 100% successful everywhere!! Not one person asked her where she got her research or for a copy of it. The board just had such a lack of curiosity and the audience was only allowed to sit and listen. Shortly after that they voted unanimously to approve the mandates.

Meanwhile, Denise tried to show that what the board was doing was representative of the people by calling on her very supercilious lieutenant to tell us all how many letters of support they had!! So much easier than elections and all that stuff. Just have the supporters of the program (people looking for the paycheck) write letters in support!! See? We really don't need that old OVERWHELMLINGLY REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE do we?

You know, the funny thing is, and I hope I'm wrong, was that it appeared that the board members hadn't even read the curriculum mandates!! I related to them, from the document, how three year olds would be assessed and how they would be teaching them analytical thinking and algebraic reasoning, and how all of this was so age inappropriate, and it was like talking to a deer in the headlights!! Well, anyway, Denise told us- how dare we criticize, they'd been working on this for two whole years and we could have brought our complaints up earlier, it was too late now!! She knows, really knows, the public had no idea of what she was having her staff cook up (copy from Washington D.C.). You see, I just do things behind your back and then I feign shock when it comes out and you don't like it.

It's a funny thing about these people and PARENTAL RIGHTS. If you read the document they just have so much, respect for PARENTAL RIGHTS, and they just want to include them and collaborate with them and even do home visits in their houses!! They just don't want them to vote or to speak up though. They want the parents to be servile and do as they are told, THEN they'll be their best friend! Just don't make waves, it makes everything so difficult you know. Just give us your children and your tax dollars and WE'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S BEST FOR YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE TOO STUPID TO MAKE YOUR OWN DECISIONS AND THE TEACHERS ARE TOO STUPID TOO!! WE KNOW EVERYTHING THAT'S BEST FOR EVERYBODY AND YOU HAVE TO JUST SIT DOWN AND LISTEN AND DO AS YOU ARE TOLD!! Did I miss something or is this the definition of Fascism? Stand up for your rights parents. These are your schools paid for by your tax dollars and these are your children. These bureaucrats are there to serve you. Keep America free and don't stop holding these people accountable. PARENTAL RIGHTS ARE FREEDOM.                                  

BUREAUCRACY

I was watching the news this morning and a promo for the next show informed us that the U.N. has come out with a new edict on global warming. According to them, we will need to get down to ZERO emissions within 20 years, to SAVE THE PLANET!! SERIOUSLY?!!! They get to put out this propaganda and GET AWAY WITH IT!! This is BUREAUCRACY gone amuck on warp speed,for one simple reason- THEY ARE NOT HELD ACCOUNTABLE!! If the world finally said- " You are coming out with outlandish statements that you can not back up with fact and we are going to TAKE YOUR MONEY AWAY", they would stop in a heartbeat. After all, there can be no argument that Al Gore's prediction that the ice caps would have melted by the year 2000, was actually  erroneous.

BUREAUCRATS wreak destruction everywhere, AND THEY ARE NEVER HELD ACCOUNTABLE!! Hillary Clinton's Goals 2000 in our schools has been a TOTAL FAILURE, but no one wants to talk about it. George Bush's No Child Left Behind program was Goals 2000 on warp speed with testing- he passed it with Ted Kennedy. No one wants to talk about it. The attempt at Global Education and all its SOCIAL ENGINEERING comes directly from the U. N. and is now called COMMON CORE. BUREAUCRATS are wreaking havoc and destroying public education in America. No one cares, they collect their paychecks- in the case of Pearson, David Coleman and Microsoft- very big ones- and they go on destroying kids education and competition in the public school publishing markets-  AND THEY GET AWAY WITH IT!! WHO WILL HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE? In free markets if you have a lousy product you go out of business- end of story. What happens to BUREAUCRATS that lie and manipulate and have programs that are total failures? NOTHING HAPPENS!! 

I watch our Helena School Board with disgust and disbelief. They can sit and listen to a program that in some cases works- like the math program Success Maker for Math Recovery classes, which uses a computer program to test where students are failing and the teacher has them practice that skill - and applaud direct instruction. In the next moment they can listen to Amy Yerko from Chicago telling them we need new buildings with wide open forums so that teachers can teach through collaborative projects and they dumbly give the nod to that ! If you confront individuals- like I did Amy Yerko- they kind of get it. Amy asked ME for advice about her sons education at the end of one of our planning sessions in Helena. Amy has a business, she is one of the newly created experts to promote the BUREAUCRATS GARBAGE.  All these experts have to do is to say what they are told.

After the Success Maker presentation I went up to our assistant superintendent and tried to make some sense with him- kids that are struggling will just get lost having their math taught through a month long project on making rockets. HE AGREED WITH ME !! Actually, most of the kids,will learn very little and a great deal of time will be wasted. But nothing will change. Nothing will change until the grants coming from Washington go away. Microsoft will stop when there is no paycheck there. The U.N. will be stopped when their money runs out.

The public needs to begin to REQUIRE ACCOUNTABILITY, AND I DON'T MEAN COMMON CORE TESTING WHICH CAN BE CHANGED AT ANY TIME BY THE TEST CREATORS TO SHOW FAKE ACHIEVEMENT. Accountability is independent and various testing companies showing real growth in real academics (math and reading) nationwide.

Meanwhile, they are using our precious school money to hire LITERACY COACHES. This is Common Core again, trying to force all teachers to be their little robots. This is the part that really makes me sick at my stomach- the new literacy coach at our middle school is a woman who has political ties to the Democrat party because she served on the school board for them. Her experience in literacy? She worked for the Gifted and Talented program for a few years (project learning on steroids, with NO TESTING AND NO PROOF THAT IT IS EFFECTIVE AT ALL). So, this woman who came very late to the education game, and never taught Middle School English in her life, is telling our career English teachers HOW TO TEACH!!!

In just about all industries in America the American public is seeing a loss of freedom and an inablity to get out from under the strangle hold of BUREAUCRACY. We need to get our country back by stopping the BUREAUCRATS. The BUREAUCRATS need to be forced into the private sector where they will actually have to achieve something to make a living. The only way I know to stop the BUREAUCRATS, is to downsize the government. Only school programs that actually PROVE THEIR SUCCESS EVERY YEAR, should be allowed to go forward. Currently we have no proof of success what so ever, and programs like Dare, Head Start, and PEAK, go on and on propagandizing, but do not have to offer proof of their success.

STOP THE BUREAUCRATS AND SAVE AMERICA AND OUR SCHOOLS!!!

TO BE OR NOT TO BE? THAT IS THE QUESTION.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE? THAT IS THE QUESTION. I will borrow this wonderful quote from Shakespeare. Another way to put this question is - what will become of America?

We always think of the Germans as a hardworking and frugal people. People you can depend on. When it looks like Germany might go back into recession the stock market quakes and shivers- if the Germans are going down then what will happen to the rest of us who are not nearly as reliable? THE WORK ETHIC MATTERS!!

Many of us might remember when we were growing up that lying on the couch reading a book was not considered work. I remember my old German grandmother- if you weren't participating in the work- what were you doing? Did these people have failings and hang ups - most certainly. Did they over come them ? Yes, they did. Man has his good side and his bad side. Everything depends on which side you want to nourish and encourage.

I would argue that America is in a mess today because the Democrat party has encouraged the wrong values. A professor from Louisiana provided me with an aha! moment the other night. It was one of those moments when something so obvious, becomes clear to me. He said the Democrat party used to be the party for robust economic growth. TODAY THE DEMOCRAT PARTY IS THE PARTY OF REDISTRIBUTION. Yes! Yes! and Yes! 

Everywhere you look the Democrats are teaching dependency and victimhood. Lawyers use class action suits to get their booty from large corporations. The justice system is just as embroiled in this redistribution ethos as the poorer classes are. Corporations are not seen as magnificent achievements that provide for the benefits of all of us, from low cost goods to jobs to the tax base - they are seen as evil, and everyone has the right to pillage them. Success is not rewarded with honor - it is despised.

In school our children are being carefully taught with free things they really don't need - free coats, when they all have perfectly good ones that they leave on the playground and won't even claim in lost and found- the schools contribute these coats to thrift stores every year, free food all day long when their parents can easily give them a bowl of cereal and a peanut butter sandwich, collecting for Food Share which gives food to people without proof of income status, that everyone is a dependent. The idea of the rugged individual is denigrated while the idea of victimhood reigns supreme. Under the Bully Program you can turn someone in for "Making you feel inferior". Nebulous things that set up a culture of victimhood. Children are not taught that through hard work and personal fortitude they can become anything they want to be because AMERICA IS THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY. They are taught about the poor and downtrodden and told that THIS IS ALL THE FAULT OF AMERICA. Any race that has not achieved everything they could and should, gets to blame our country, never themselves.

Government grants and government programs set up corporatism and greed everywhere- from non-profits that work to keep their head count up for grants and care more for their bottom line than what they are contributing to the actual charity, to corporations that set up on K Street in Washington D.C. to farmers that don't plant crops. Everyone's looking for an angle from disabilities to class action suits. BUT WHO IS LOOKING OUT FOR AMERICA? WHO CARES THAT THE CHARACTER OF OUR PEOPLE WILL BRING DOWN OUR NATION?

Man can achieve greatness and man can destroy himself. What will it be for America? Will we stop this insanity and teach our children the values they need to succeed in this world? Will  we teach our children to be proud and resilient or will we continue down this path of dependency that is drowning this country in corruption and debt? TO BE OR NOT TO BE? THAT IS THE QUESTION.

IDEOLOGY OVER EDUCATION

A news caster hit the nail on the head the other night when he said the problem with the Obama administration is that they CHOOSE IDEOLOGY OVER COUNTRY every time. That's right. When it comes to the border Obama chooses letting all the people from Central America come here illegally, and giving them services, to protecting the American people from terror and disease, by CLOSING THE BORDER. Why won't he close the border? The people who elected him think our country isn't diverse enough and that everyone is ENTITLED to be in this country. This is choosing ideology over NATIONAL INTEREST. When it comes to foreign affairs he lets extremely dangerous terrorists out of Gitmo and won't leave boots on the ground in Iraq. The result is ISIS. Why wouldn't he do the prudent thing that his generals recommended in Iraq? Because the ideology of his political base just wanted out of Iraq- the Code Pink ideology, over what was best for the country. Why won't he cut out government waste? Why does he GROW the government exponentially when we are eighteen trillion dollars in debt? Why does he leave our country vulnerable with unsustainable debt? Ideology again - more government is always better - no matter the consequences to our nation,our people, and our national economy. Why won't he stop the flights from West Africa, as the Europeans have done, to protect the American people from Ebola ? Ideology-  everything for Africa - forget the needs and rights of America.

So now let's talk about our schools. Nobody wants to talk about it, but Goals 2000,the Clinton school reform movement, has been a total failure. The Common Core advocates talk about the failure of our schools all the time alright, but they have a REAL MEMORY LOSS, as to where that failure came from. The Federal Government shouldn't be involved in education at all, what they do is IDEOLOGY OVER EDUCATION!! Any time a national government gets involved in education, politics and ideology take over. That's why the founders of our country LEFT EDUCATION UP TO THE STATES!! Why do we have "Walk to School Day"? Is this to read better? Why do we have empathy skills training? Is this to improve math?Why do we have gardens? Is this helping the students learn to write? Is the DARE program teaching Social Studies or Science? How about the Buddy program and the Bully program - what academic skill are THEY teaching? This goes on all day- but let's talk about teaching strategies.

I admit I am guilty of listening to all this nouveau crap, I tried it all. It took me a while to get that these ideas and strategies had an agenda- and it wasn't best teaching practices. I tried putting the kids desks, in a circle, in paired groups, and in pods of four. Guess what happened? What would you do if you were sitting right next to someone and had no space of your own all day- you'd probably talk to your neighbor-and that's what they did!!One day the DARE officer came in and said he needed the desks moved into rows when he was there because in these other arrangements all the kids did was talk! I was stunned- he noticed it too!! I moved my desks permanently back into rows starting on that day in 1989. Is putting students next to each other with no personal space done so that they can pay attention better, focus better, learn better? Is there data somewhere for this? If there is, I have never seen it. This is IDEOLOGY OVER EDUCATION. The real reason for the nouveau seating arrangements is to teach the  "village concept", the "community concept" , connectedness- we're all in this together-Socialism for the 21st century in America. Well, it doesn't teach any of that, but it does destroy many students chances to get a good education, and makes many teachers days very long.

Fifth graders walking down the hall and listening to kindergartners read instead of having their science lesson is for the village concept too. It certainly doesn't teach the kids any academics. At one point all the program people tried to say that programs like the endangered species program were academics!! NO THEY ARE NOT!! That little attempt died like a deflated balloon- no one would believe that!!

Teaching is not rocket science- break down skills and practice. Teach at a good pace, work with all the modalities, and keep the kids on task. Help kids that need help, shorten or add to assignments for students when needed. It doesn't take billions of dollars, millions of programs, and one full time paid job per student. Private schools do it all the time, so do moms. We did it for generations in this country very successfully- even built an industrial complex and went to the moon. Kick the ideology and the Federal Government out of our schools and the private sector will compete with good curriculum materials as they did in the past. Teachers will choose good curriculums that work. Project learning is not for good teaching folks, it's for lessons in "we're all in this together". How many of you ever learned to read in a project? How many of you were in groups and wasted your time? Enough said- Montessori has no data- after all these years- to prove that the "village concept" makes their learning superior. I would argue that it isn't even as good- I had two fourth graders from Montessori once that couldn't read at all. The Montessori teachers finally figured these kids weren't going to choose reading.

Time to kick out the ideology and CHOOSE EDUCATION, CHOOSE A SUCCESSFUL AMERICA!!

SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF OUR TEACHERS

It's interesting how every new program creates experts like leaves falling from the trees in the fall. Common Core, which has only been around for a couple of years, has more superior experts than you can even imagine. I met one today. Unfortunately, she doesn't use a mike and had her face right in the face of the school board- standing right at their name plates ( I wonder who taught her that technique?).

So I only got to hear a small portion of Janel's schtick because the superintendent, once again, changed the printed agenda. I begin to wonder if this disrespect and disservice and violation of the open meeting laws is planned. But, I did get to hear her, though I had to strain to do so, and I did get to talk to this self proclaimed superior teacher trainer. The first thing that impressed me was her total disrespect for and trust of TEACHERS. You see, our teachers are just not good teachers and they don't make kids college and career ready. I questioned her about this. Was not college and career ready always the goal of our schools? Well--- no, she said. I was astonished. Then what would the goal of schools have been? Well-- the teachers just weren't doing it  or couldn't do it- so she- the expert- is making sure they get in Professional Learning Communities so she can MAKE them do it!!

"Any time you have change there will be push back", she said. Here we go again- if you don't think I'm right all the time it's just because you're afraid of change!! I asked her about her "guaranteed and viable" curriculum . How could she guarantee a curriculum and what made it viable? Her curriculum is guaranteed and viable because it matches the test!! I wonder if she has ever heard of "garbage in garbage out"? Well, she said, students were dropping out before, but now everyone will leave school college and career ready, and that will prove the viability of Common Core.

Do you think 100% of students will walk out into this world and be successful under any curriculum? If you do, I have a bridge to Hawaii to sell you. This is nonsense. It makes about as much sense as Obama being able to settle all our foreign affairs problems just by talking to people! It's about as destructive too. She said when these (inferred inferior people afraid of change), come up to her with objections she just says " What can I do for you?". Let me answer that question for all these misused and frustrated teachers-  Lady, you can quit being so damn superior and try working in the trenches yourself!! You can quit wasting our time and let us do the job we know how to do and you don't!! YOU CAN QUIT SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF OUR TEACHERS!!

I went to what I, and many others , call the "dog and pony" show at one of our schools the other day. This is when the school board forces schools to show them their stuff every year. This is an advertisement for school reform-makes the board feel good- even if most of it is wrong, mischaracterized or just plain terrible. The board is told everything is wonderful and THEY FEEL PROUD OF THEMSELVES. They are suckers. This presentation was so bad, I would have cried or laughed, if it just didn't make me so downright mad!! The teachers sat there in a row looking terrified and the principal and one other teacher did the show. This principal, with this very southern accent, that was continually addressing herself  "I said SarahBeth"- you get the idea, was not even in school for at least part of the first week of school!! She was on an airplane going to Texas!! She made sure the kids got their charm for showing up though. Do as I say not as I do. Meanwhile we'll be out 45 minutes early every Monday, but darn it, you take attendance seriously when we are here!!

Meanwhile the students and teachers spent the week doing disaster drills and orientations!! By the way, just to ease your fears about all these starving children, apparently 100% of the kindergarten parents showed up for home visits at school. My, my- they won't feed them but they all show up- hmmm.

But here's the really sad part. I listened to all this crap and I realized why I had to leave that district. I just couldn't be treated like these teachers are being treated. I'm way too much of a self directed proud individual to subvert who I am, humble myself ,and submit to the treatment these teachers are being subjected to. One Common Core video I watched said the teachers had to find their "niche". REALLY? The teachers are just a niche now? I'll show you some of the ways teachers are being put into a little subservient niche.

First of all, this school just got it's vaunted Title I status recently. The superintendent was so proud and he just smiled and practically gave them a medal last year at a board meeting for getting it! Whoopee- the secretary made a mad dash to the phone when she realized that they had over 40% free and reduced lunch -at least for one day!! Remember, they prove income by having the secretary check up on a few, not very exact. So now they are a "poor" school and the teachers are pressured to go to a "book club" !! Yes indeed, they are reading "Framework for Poverty" !! I could get an A+ in that class- we've all done it in college- just tell them what they want to hear folks!! Don't spend your time on your work-like grading papers or doing lesson plans- go to the "book club" so they can tell you what and how to think.Meanwhile one of the board members I really do enjoy, asked if the school had changed now that they are Title. Answer- "no".

Moving right along, the teachers are forced to give up their classes to psychs and social workers teaching "empathy" skills. They used to do this when I taught too- a real barf session. Just teaching the kids what the teachers are supposed to be learning in the "book club". I guess parents can't be trusted to teach their kids not to be sociopaths.

Now, when the teachers do get a little time to teach- that will be directed too. Not only do they have to teach to the test, teach the units in the order proscribed by their "professional learning community" and report, and teach in the manner proscribed by said community, they have to give their teaching over to para professionals who are usually not even college graduates much less credentialed!! That's right, the teachers will work with a student or two who is struggling and the para will take over the teachers" class!! If that isn't bad enough, the school is working on empowering the paras to grab kids out of class if they think they are misbehaving!! The teacher's authority over the classroom is being undermined.

We are all individuals with different teaching styles and different ideas about classroom discipline. Just as we are individuals in our parenting we are different teachers. Teachers are not robots. There is no panacea in this world. Common Core is SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF OUR TEACHERS AND SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF EDUCATION!! This unproven experiment is single handedly DESTROYING EDUCATION in America - just as the teachers union president Randi Weingartner predicted.

I went away from this meeting sad and mad- it appeared to me that every bit of joy in teaching- from personal motivation, personal ingenuity, personal creativity, personal pride, individuality, spontaneity, and originality, was being sucked out of these teachers and the teaching profession. The bureaucrats, who do nothing, have taken over.

And if you want to see how these government programs work out, look no further than the military's RCI program ( we don't have enough forces in the field but we have troops to be nannys to wayward youth). I saw them up close and personal at the skateboard park by the YMCA where I work out. Some were skateboarding, some were making out with their girlfriends, some were smoking, and the military personnel in charge of this mess (soldiers) were in the lobby of the YMCA chatting with the desk clerk. Hey Janel, these are not "guaranteed and viable" curriculums. And one last shout out to the teachers union- what are you getting paid for? Have you ever heard of ACADEMIC FREEDOM?!!

TRUST

Trust, an interesting thought. Whom do you trust? Do you trust your government? Do you trust your school superintendent not to lie to you? Do you trust that your school board is doing what's in the best interest of your child? When you think about it, there's not really a lot of trust out there anymore.

Why can't you trust your superintendent of schools not to lie to you? Maybe it's because this country was FOUNDED on TRUST and the superintendent is trying to pretend that nothing has changed, but it has. This country was FOUNDED TO PUT TRUST IN THE PEOPLE. That is why we have a vote. Many people at the time did not trust that people could govern themselves. If you think about it, liberals, still today, do not believe that people can govern themselves. They TRUST the government, not you. So, your superintendent has to lie to you. He has to tell you that the building programs he is representing are a LOCAL idea. He has to tell you that Common Core does not take away LOCAL CONTROL. You see, our Federal Government is not supposed to be involved in Education at all. They have no mandate to do what they are doing so your superintendent has to lie to you, AND in most cases, to bring the school board along with those lies ( Believe it or not, there actually are many school board members that don't realize they are being directed from the Federal Government).

As the programs go forward the LACK OF TRUST IN THE PUBLIC gets worse and worse. We are told that schools need 100% free and reduced breakfast, lunch and snacks because "People just won't feed their children". Do you believe that, or do you think this is a MANUFACTURED CRISES to get you to support FEDERAL TAKE OVER OF FOOD AT SCHOOL? I can tell you that I went to school in the 50's and no one was starving. I can tell you that I never, not even one time, had a student pass out from hunger at school in all the 30 years that I taught.

We used to TRUST teachers. If the English teachers at a high school gave a student A's in English we believed that that student could write and the colleges accepted that. We believed that our elementary and middle school teachers were able to teach writing without Federal intervention. Today we have Common Core and writing programs and tests because there is no TRUST that the teachers can do this on their own. Under the TRUST system (otherwise known as freedom), we built this great country that people from around the world want to come to and that the "dreamers" from Mexico and Central America enter illegally. We went to the moon and developed an amazing industrial complex. We didn't need a Federal Department of Education to do these things. Freedom actually does work.

Our grand experiment with freedom is being destroyed by people who put their TRUST in the Federal Government and can't believe that we don't need standardized health (government controlled) and standardized curriculums and standardized welfare and standardized child rearing and standardized everything else. These people just can't believe that our states, counties, cities and school boards can operate without the Federal Government controlling them. They can't believe that parents and teachers can do their jobs without the help of the Federal Government. We are on the road to tyranny because we are letting these nonbelievers turn our successful nation into huge bureaucratic interventions that never work and always destroy.

The schools have not improved under Federal Government Reform that started with Goals 2000 in the nineties. Our test scores are flat. In my hometown of Helena our scores have deteriorated. FREEDOM actually does work folks. Put your TRUST back in yourself and your local governance and maybe we can begin believing and respecting our representatives once again. Maybe school boards and school superintendents will begin doing what is right for their local district again, instead of what the Federal Government wants, and they won't have to lie to you. The Federal Government is a wasteland of ineptitude and their march to control you has got to be stopped. STOP THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND YOU CAN STOP THE LIEING. WE CAN START TRUSTING ONE ANOTHER ONCE AGAIN.

F O C U S

Thomas Jefferson had F O C U S when it came to our country. He had a VISION. He knew what he wanted for America and how he would get there. He wanted a strong and free America. To this end he wrote the Declaration of Independence, participated in the Constitutional Convention and, as president, accomplished the Louisiana Purchase. Many of America's leaders had this kind of F O C U S. George Washington fought the Revolutionary war against all odds and Abraham Lincoln never gave up on the Civil War. General Dwight Eisenhower fought his way across Europe. These people didn't lose their
F O C U S  in what they wanted for our country. They weren't distracted by every faction, every squabble, every problem, every special interest group. They fought for our American ideals and built a great nation.

Today our Common Core educators mock anyone wanting to teach an accumulation of events and facts. They claim that students can just look things up!! This is the kind of distracted learning that leads to a lack of  F O C U S. I wonder, how can anyone have any clarity of thought about events, when they do not have the continuum of historical facts IN THEIR MIND. You might be able to bake a cake by referring to a recipe, one step at a time, but you can't think that way. YOU HAVE TO KNOW THINGS. The Common Core folks love to say that they are teaching "higher level thinking skills" and "critical thinking". Yeah right, critical thinking by children who do not have an accumulation of events, facts, and information in their brains. This is indoctrination, not "higher level" thinking.

Our great nation is under attack from these non- thinkers. They have broken our country into a  thousand special interests and factions and in the process our leaders have lost all F O C US on what is in America's interest, what we need to do to protect our country and our future. From terrorism to open borders to financial crisis, this country goes forward with no F O C U S on what is right for America. We are supposed to care more for the needs of the illegal immigrants than for the security and defense of our own country. 

It's my suspicion that the great propaganda artists somewhere have a design to dismantle the American dream by turning our people into factions that lose all vision, all F O C U S of what we need to do to protect, maintain and build our great country which is built on FREEDOM- THAT MEANS PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS AND FREE MARKETS.

Any thief in the night knows that they have to distract the guards to get to the compound. Let's quit being distracted. Let's quit electing leaders that have no F O C U S on America's interests. Let's get rid of this ridiculous education philosophy and centralized Common Core that is distracting our schools from teaching full curriculums of real information that builds real knowledge. Our children will only be able to F O C U S  on what is right for our great country when they know REAL PROVEN SCIENCE and FULL HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDINGS. Let's F O C U S on what we want and need , let's F O C U S  on our nations vital interests and make a better tomorrow for all of the citizens of this great land.

HOW TO DESTROY A POWERFUL NATION

Well, the first thing you have to do if you want to destroy a powerful nation is to destroy its CULTURE, this includes its religions , traditions, and languages. You do this by undermining the peoples beliefs. This you can do by changing school curriculums to teach the children to question their countries beliefs and founding. You have to look no farther than the current Common Core "Next Generation Standards" for history to see how America is being destroyed. Teachers who teach real facts and events are dismissed, those that "evaluate the accuracy of current and previous schools of historical interpretation to develop a personal philosophy of the past" are promoted.

America has sat by while actual communists and radical murderers like Bill Ayers were hired to teach their children in colleges across the nation. We, as a nation, believe in free thought and speech, we are extremely tolerant, so we were easy game. But the Communists that wanted to destroy this country were not satisfied with just taking over the colleges, it must not have been working WELL ENOUGH, so they had to centralize and take over every little school in America- voila- Common Core.

One high school history assignment from StudySync, a private corporation that provides teachers with "assistance" for Common Core requirements, requires students to offer a critical response to Ronald Reagan's address to the students at Moscow University. They must argue in 300 words why Reagan's speech was ineffective and/or false. They must cite specific points and arguments from Reagan's speech and offer counterarguments against each. This is teaching liberalism folks. This is teaching children to question free markets and freedom. And I do say children, high school students are not adults. They aren't old enough to drink but, according to Common Core ,they are old enough to be propagandized AGAINST their country and what it stands for. Is anyone surprised that American children are joining the terrorists in their fight for an Islamic Caliphate?

 If you want to have a strong country you must fight for the right to teach your children to love it. That's called patriotism and loyalty to your country. That's why we say the Pledge of Allegiance and have a national anthem. People have the right to raise their children as they choose, but do they have the right to use our public schools to teach children to criticize and ultimately not believe in their own country? Do they have the right to lie and obfuscate information, telling children that slavery was the defining character of our founding fathers when children probably don't know that slavery was almost universal at that time and our constitution was written to end slavery within 20 years, because they couldn't end it immediately? Do they teach children that we are the only country that fought a civil war to end slavery, that white men died to free their Black brothers and sisters? Meanwhile, are our children being taught about the wonder of the first nation to define universal human rights FROM GOD? Are they taught about our leadership of the free world that  stopped Hitler, a brutal dictator, and freed the Jews from concentration camps?

Students are taught about the internment of the Japanese here. This was obviously an overreaction to the Japanese attack, it was wrong and unfair. But the children are not carefully taught THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND WHAT HAPPENED IN AMERICA. Disloyalty against our nation could not be taught better in our public schools if it was taught by any of our enemies, including the Communists from Russia.

And let us be clear about the so called "Communists"- these are brutal dictators not altruistic Marxists that make everything fair- Marx's ideology has never worked anywhere, anytime.

America is a nation of immigrants so it is doubly important to teach our culture and our ideas to our young. America needs to stand up to Howard Zinn and his shaming of America- this man writes textbooks!! America has laid down for a long time and allowed our enemies to freely try to destroy us, from taking away our right to use our natural resources to actually destroying our forests with fires, to destroying our American spirit with drugs and dependency programs, to destroying our national beliefs.

Our last chance to fight back, the last battle for our country, might be right here, right now, in our public schools.People come to America from all over the world because of our ideas, our ideas of freedom that have built a prosperous, safe, and free America that believes in the rights of the individual. We MUST DEMAND THAT THE TRUTH ABOUT AMERICA'S SUCCESS BE TAUGHT TO OUR CHILDREN. We no longer have the luxury of sitting by, we must fight back and stop our enemies, we must keep our enemies out of the White House. We must vote for people who ACTUALLY BELIEVE IN AND LOVE OUR COUNTRY. We must stop this DESTRUCTION OF A POWERFUL NATION- ours.

WHAT IS THIS ALL REALLY ABOUT?

Like most of you I suppose, I am dead tired of politics. Like you, I remember the days when we only thought about politics right before we had to vote. It did not consume our lives everyday. I was just wondering if the reason Barrack Obama is in Martha's Vineyard golfing is because he just - aw shucks- thinks we need to share our wealth? Is he buying land in Palm Springs while in office just for fairness?Have the Clinton's become multimillionaires because they are passionate for the poor? Or just maybe, is this about what it is always about, POWER AND MONEY.

These communist wannabes may have started out ardent about social justice, but I don't see them practicing it today. When Harry Truman left office he got in the car with Bess and went home. We never heard from him again. He didn't die a millionaire or go on the speaking circuit to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a speech. He had served his country and then he went home.

So why do the communist wannabes want to control the schools and the voting booth? Is it to make a "better America", or is it like every tinhorn dictator that ever lived, to gain and keep control over the "masses". Dictators like Hitler or Mussolini were rather crude about it, they didn't have a constitution to frustrate their move to control. They just killed people who spoke against them and went right into the schools and took over. The communist wannabes have to be a little more clever, they have to obfuscate their moves- you see- Common Core "is not really a curriculum" and "it's not from the government- after all, the STATES HAVE THE RIGHT OVER EDUCATION!" Yeah right, the states rights over education is no longer anything but a pretense. Common Core is the nail in the coffin, Common Core even controls national testing and college entrance exams.

If you want to take control, you have to change things. You have to have people listening to you so that you can control them. What shall I believe master? What shall I do master? You are always right master  and I am just waiting to be your servant. The communist wannabes know what we should eat or not eat, they know how we should sit in our car, they know what kinds of cars we should be able to drive, they know that we can't burn leaves in our gutter anymore or throw rice at weddings. They know that we shouldn't be able to smoke even in our own homes. They know everything and all they need is an ad campaign to make their desires become public policy. To keep this going they need control of the masses. They need to control minds. They don't want children that question them, they want children that LISTEN TO THEM.

Our children are having "information taken out" of their curriculums. They are being taught that the most important thing about our founding fathers is that they had slaves. They are being taught to "have opinions" before they have any information to make opinions with. Our children are being raised under Common Core to have the opinion that everything is relative and that their country and its founding beliefs are flawed. These dumbed down individuals are being primed to believe whatever the communist wannabes need them to believe at any moment.

People with power want to keep it and that is what Common Core is all about- creating a future generation that will submit and allow the power brokers to continue their corruption, graft and pilfering. If you make waves you are an extremist according to these very corrupt people. America needs to break away from all of this propaganda and rely on the wisdom of their founding fathers in the Constitution of The United States of America. This document frustrates the accumulation of power as its PLAN. It protects the people from the power of government- very frustrating for communist wannabes.

Who among us was not a "liberal" at one time? Not too many I guess. People need to think straight and break away from the confusion and disarray of the present day power brokers that are trying to undermine everything this country stands for. I broke away a long time ago. People who have been taken in by the propaganda that keeps the present power mongers at their dynastic peak need to break away- there's no shame in it- as I said, most of us had to break away at some point. Some of the greatest intellectuals among us - like David Horowitz- were taken in by this high powered propaganda at some point. We can't save our children until we save ourselves.

This is all really about power and money and taking our constitution and our country from us - the jig is up- don't let them.

DOES IT HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS?!!

The answer to my question "DOES IT HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS?!!" is no, it does not. Our liberal friends who hate our country from its founding think of themselves as positive. They claim that conservatives are "negative". Well, not so fast my friends. Conservatives BELIEVE in this country. They UNDERSTAND what a wonderful country this is and how our SUCCESS has improved lives here at home and around the world. Conservatives BELIEVE in the goodness of this country and that we can over come FRAUD, OBUSE AND CORRUPTION to get our country back on the right track. That is optimism folks. The negativity comes from the left.

The other day we got a message from the city, never a good thing, and I opened it immediately. Wonder of wonders- the city wants ANOTHER non-motorized district (Open Spaces Bond and Complete Streets is not enough for these always invasive and intrusive folks with their noses stuck smack in the line coming straight to them from Washington D.C.). That was bad enough, but here's how the vote goes down-you see the vote they were asking for to get more property taxes from me was a "protest" vote. That way- ALL BALLOTS NOT RETURNED ARE COUNTED AS A YES VOTE!! Just think of it- opt out voting- everyone is in unless they OPT OUT!! This is how they do it these days in the schools too- you are automatically OPTED IN for all their garbage and testing unless you OPT OUT. Since most people have a life and can't follow every single thing that is going on, they don't know when to opt out so these leftists get everything they want almost universally. My husband called the city attorney and he was very happy to tell him that this law had been passed by the Montana legislature in 2009 and was reenacted in 2013. Do you know what this is? Our legislature is heavily REPUBLICAN. People do not vote for REPUBLICANS to get bowled over and abused like this. What this is, is our REPUBLICANS getting USED by the left. The lefties laugh all the way to the bank too - ha - ha "Don't look at us (though the whole thing was their plan and proposal), the REPUBLICAN majority passed it!!Republicans DO NOT HAVE TO BE THIS STUPID, Republicans DO NOT HAVE TO BE USED BY THE LEFT.

If you show up at the legislature you will run into the "alphabet soup". This is the MTSBA (Montana School Boards Association), the NEA (National Education Association), the MEA (Montana Education Association) and the MREA ( Montana Rural Educators Association). THESE ARE ALL LOBBYISTS FOR EDUCATION TAX MONEY AND THEIR VERY LIFE IS PAID FOR BY YOU. That's right- you pay taxes to pay for these groups to lobby for their interests- often opposed to your interests. Tax payer funded lobbying. Do you think that is fair? Of course they win all the time because you are as I said, living your life, and these peoples full time job, paid for by you, is to lobby for what they want. If you wonder "DOES IT HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS?!!", you have to look no further than Scott Walker in Wisconsin. His teacher's unions have to collect their own dues now and teachers are dropping out of the union like flies.

Every time you see people being registered to vote on the street with no need to produce a birth certificate, or NINE HUNDRED absentee ballots being sent to the Democratic headquarters, or a crucial precinct not having ONE Republican vote, or recounts over and over until a Democrat gets the most votes, REMEMBER YOU CAN CHANGE THIS!! You can change this by voting out corrupt and inept politicians. You can vote for people who will turn this government around. You do not have to put up with people with absolutely no qualifications or proven abilities (like Hillary Clinton or Barrack Obama). Hawaii just voted out their incumbent governor in a primary for the first time ever. He had ten times the money and Barrack Obama's endorsement, but he lost.

In Helena we have allowed the lobbyist for the Police and Fire union to be our Mayor for 15 years!! We have the president of the teachers unions wife on our school board!! Things do not have to be this way. You have to live your life, but you can pay attention and vote these people out. Vote for people that don't believe in opt out voting. Vote for people that will represent the interests of the people not the government. Vote for people who will stand for the interests of our country and not the interests of POWER. WE CAN CHANGE THIS IF WE PAY ATTENTION AND VOTE. There is not enough corruption out there to overcome the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of the people. It can happen folks, it's happening right now in Wisconsin.We have a right to protect our borders and our laws. We have a right to expect fiscal responsibility in our government. WE CAN MAKE THIS HAPPEN AND WE WILL. FUTURE GENERATIONS ARE DEPENDING ON US. WE WON'T LOSE THIS COUNTRY ON OUR WATCH!!

S T A N D A R D S

Now that the National Curriculum, Common Core,is being thrown out across the nation, many states are saying ,"Our STANDARDS were better than Common Core". Well, that's true, but why do they need STANDARDS ? We had better schools than we have now without these invasive STATE STANDARDS, for hundreds of years in this country. When the Carnegie Standards came about long ago they were very simple, they were graduation standards. Students would be expected to complete a certain amount of English, Math, Science, and History to graduate. How well a student should be able to write was left up to the English teacher. We didn't need the government to make this determination. Students wrote very well in those days, much better than they do today with all the government intrusion and forced testing.

STATE STANDARDS came about in the early nineties as a precursor to our NATIONAL CURRICULUM. The STANDARDS were the result of a FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PROGRAM CALLED GOALS 2000. Since we got the FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION we have had the ESEA- NATIONAL SECONDARY AND ELEMENTARY EDUCATION ACT.  The ESEA is reenacted every ten years with loads of money. This money becomes grants that DIRECT EDUCATION IN THIS COUNTRY. Do you want this? Do you think the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS IMPROVED EDUCATION IN THIS COUNTRY? If the Federal Government has improved education in this country why is homeschooling now almost a norm and the charter school movement expanding aggressively?

National Curriculums allow FEDERAL AUTHORITIES to put political agendas into schools. That's it - over and out. The high schools in Helena now offer "genre" English classes- Women's Rights English and Holocaust English. I thought "genres" were fiction, nonfiction, adventure, fantasy, and so on- types of literature. Since when is "genre" political activist agendas?!! This is what happens when we allow FEDERAL TAKE OVER of our schools. The STANDARDS are in place to put  GLOBAL WARMING and ENVIRONMENTAL activism into our science STANDARDS. They put SEXUAL AGENDAS into our health standards. They put political agendas into our English classes. The STANDARDS put revisionist history into our history classes. And so it goes- the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT injects all of this garbage into their STANDARDS. But each state writes their own standards don't they? They may physically write them but they don't come up with the ideas. Phyllis Schlafly compared STATE STANDARDS and found the states "amazingly" the same. It was all a ruse that states had their INDIVIDUAL STATE CREATED STANDARDS, just like it is a ruse today that Common Core is not a curriculum.

The Common Core advocates are screaming from the top of their lungs that "Common Core is not a curriculum" BALONEY!! THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES!! Common Core TRAINS TEACHERS ON HOW TO TEACH, Common Core TELLS TEACHERS WHAT BOOKS TO PICK FROM FOR ENGLISH CLASSES and TELLS TEACHERS EXACTLY HOW TO TEACH EACH BOOK. Common Core TELLS SCIENCE AND HISTORY TEACHERS HOW TO INSERT "READING INTO THEIR CLASSES ( What!! Students never read in History and Science classes before??) Common Core HAS ALL THE TESTS AND REQUIRES THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO ALIGN THEIR CURRICULUMS TO COMMON CORE AND THEN TO SELECT TEXT BOOKS THAT ARE COMMON CORE ALIGNED!! Common Core EVALUATES TEACHERS AND COLLECTS PERSONAL DATA ON OUR STUDENTS!! Common Core is not just a curriculum- it is a controlling and invasive social engineering machine being directed from Washington.

Common Core reads like a textbook telling teachers exactly how to act and what to say. Here's an example :

students analyze the first impressions given of Tom and Aunt Polly

in the opening chapter of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer based on 

the setting and how the characters are introduced. By comparing 

these first impressions with their later understanding based on how 

the action is ordered and the characters develop over the course of

the novel, students understand the impact of Mark Twain's choices

in relating elements of the story........................................................

You can't be more of a curriculum than that!! This excerpt was taken from Terrence O. Moore"s book The Story Killers, which I highly recommend. Terrence calls the Common Core creators the arch testers and points out how terrible their curriculum is. But more importantly, we're being lied to and our right to our control over our schools, our children and our privacy is being taken away. I will call the Common Core creators the arch liars and manipulators.

In 1979 the radicals in this country were S C R E A M I N G  that our schools were failing and they needed to SAVE US!! We didn't need them to save us then and we don't need them to save us now. They have ruined our schools and even worse- have destroyed our children's right to be proud of their country and their heritage. Children aren't learning the songs of their forefathers , or their stories. They aren't learning to be proud of the great people that came before them and built this great nation.

Today, young adults from counter culture are often confused and upset. The other day I saw an obituary of a young man who had committed suicide - in his life he had been doing art for revisionist history. Not having pride and sustaining values of your country and faith in your heritage can leave you lost and in a very bad place. People have a right to raise their children as they see fit- BUT DO THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO IT TO OUR CHILDREN? We can write curriculums without STATE MANDATED STANDARDS in every subject and grade level. School should be about learning basic TRUE information and building literacy- AGENDAS HAVE NO PLACE IN SCHOOL!! AMERICA TAKE YOUR SCHOOLS BACK!!  

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

When I first realized the global socialists wanted to take over our schools, that was back in 1992 when the Clinton's (Hillary) had introduced goals 2000, everyone said "follow the money" and I didn't believe it. Now I believe it. I understand it.

Our Superintendent bragged to someone we know that he had gotten a grant for troubled youth and was using it for other things- mmmm. He has turned Helena upside down and inside out trying to get 500 student schools and close neighborhood schools. He wants to disperse our poor students for "diversity", but it is really to get each of the seven institutions he wants to create to the magic 50% free and reduced lunch so that they will be total Title Schools. This will give him the opportunity to get all the Federal grants for free food for all (no income requirements- this includes breakfast, lunch, snacks and in some cases dinner if he can get the after school programs that keep children at school until nine o'clock at night "to help them with their homework".) It will also give him the opportunity to get Federal Grants for mental health care, physical health care, daycare and who knows what else. The community centers purport to want to serve the elderly and the homeless, so who knows what these free for alls will turn into.

If he gets to build the new structures his resume' will be ready for him to move on to bigger and better things. That's how it works these days, get the money and get the promotions. Helena is in a terrible fiscal mess as so many of the three or five year Federal Grants have gone away and the district has had to pick up the extra assignments, increased wages, and programs. The focus is no longer on good schools, in fact, our district is at the bottom in state testing and our teachers are paid the highest in the state AT THE TOP- not at the bottom- AT THE TOP- making way for administrators who get paid more than top to get all the raises.

Meanwhile the excuse for all this is "good schools for children". The Common Core boondoggle is sucking the very life out of our teachers who still want to do good teaching. Common Core is a big experiment that comes down from a central dictatorship. Common Core is copyrighted. Some say they want to "reform" it - P L E A S E!! Do you not know what central control does ? Do you not follow the money and the corruption that is destroying education in America? Dictatorships can get their way efficiently but they kill everything else in their path- freedom, creativity, innovation, pride, individuality, local control and focus. Every state needs to choose their own education and every school district needs to choose their own curriculums and books. Every teacher needs to teach to their own teaching style.

If we really want good schools in Helena we will expand a little in the valley, keep up with maintenance and use best practices in the classroom- that is direct instruction. Higher level thinking comes when you are old enough to utilize it and have the information to do it with. Good schools will happen when the Federal Government butts out and school districts get back to taking care of their schools and teachers and students and finances responsibly. It would help if the colleges would start focusing on best teaching practices and requiring academic excellence (i.e. actually knowing, math, science, geography, history and literature) for prospective teachers.

My suggestion- take the Federal money away and get the dollar signs out of everybody's eyes.Get the focus back on kids instead of $$$$$. Teaching is a vocation and should be treated as such. Parenting and healthcare are a vocation too-they should be practiced in their legitimate places and that is not at school. REINFORCING general principles of behavior is important in any institution but you don't go to a restaurant to get your teeth fixed!!

" AS IT ART IN HEAVEN "

Just about all of us know the universal prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, the" Our Father". In that prayer we promise to do what God wants us to do, to act on earth as it is in heaven. As the Socialists have torn our culture and society apart, leaving character destruction and dependency in their path, I believe people really still do know what "As it art in Heaven" means.

If you are a young lady who has gotten pregnant and are not married and are living on government benefits, you know you are wrong to do this, no matter what your social worker tells you. If you are a parent, who would rather make the payment on your expensive new car than to pay for your children's lunches or their healthcare, you know you are wrong to do this, no matter what the popular culture is saying. If you have a Head Start child or a disabled child, and you would rather have the bus come TO YOUR HOUSE than to get out of bed and take the child to school yourself, you know you are lazy and should take the responsibility of transporting your child. If you are using your money for drugs and alcohol or gambling, and using Food Share for your food, you know you are doing wrong.

In the end not all that much has changed, the "Our Father" is still there, and no matter what propaganda and excuses are out there, people know what they are supposed to do. In the end, we are all responsible for ourselves and our children when they are small, and we know this. We know what it means to be honest, we know what it means to be lazy, we know what "As it art in Heaven" means. Kindness and charity are important IN THEIR PLACE, but the character trait of RESPONSIBILITY means responsibility FOR YOURSELF not responsibility to a group, no matter what they are teaching in school.

I was reminded yesterday of the little girl from Bryant School here in Helena who told her mother she could never be successful at piano because all children at Bryant were failures!! I taught at Bryant school. Bryant School is in a working class neighborhood- SO WHAT?!! Almost all of us grew up in working class neighborhoods! I taught my students to climb the ladder of success, and most of the students I still know from Bryant school are no longer in working class neighborhoods. The socialist left salivates over these schools. Ho Ho- an opportunity to work their craft of dependency and victimhood. I left Bryant in disgust. If any of my students are reading this blog- hear this- you are not a victim and you will be successful- don't ever let anyone tell you different.

We all know what our responsibilities are and how to achieve success through hard work . No excuse ever put anyone on the path to a happy and successful future. Some things never change and we know it, decency is decency. We know "As it art in Heaven", and we can do it. America is like Pinnochio. Many of us have been carried adrift, but I believe America will make it back to Japetto, and we will rise again, knowing who we are and doing what we are supposed to do"As it art in Heaven"- Amen!!

WHAT TO KEEP AND WHAT TO THROW AWAY

We all come across this dilemma almost daily- shall I KEEP THIS or shall I THROW THIS AWAY? Maybe it's just an old sweater or maybe it's as serious as a relationship- but we have to make these decisions.

When progressives want change they are asking you to throw things away. Unfortunately, they don't want you to use careful reason- they just want you to make the change- period. Many techniques are used to convince you to just throw things away without regard for what you are losing. One of the techniques is name calling, they make you feel ignorant or afraid or narrow minded or racist if you won't just jump on their bandwagon.

A whole room of young professionals was told by the school board the other night that the only reason they didn't want to close several schools and replace them with 500 student institutions was because they "needed to be educated" and that they were "afraid"!! My goodness, the young professionals were not ignorant of the situation. They know exactly what is being asked of them. They are being asked to throw away more than a hundred years of educational tradition. They are being asked to throw away the neighborhood school concept for an untried and untested experiment that very well may not work.To say that they are "afraid" is really insulting. In other words, people must accept all change or they are just afraid. All change is good. Excuse me, not all change is good.

Those people that take the time to consider what they are losing and what their alternatives are, are the smart ones. They are the patriots that will save, not just our schools and neighborhoods, but this country. Personally, change is why I love capitalism so much. New products come out all the time that are duds. The market quickly discards these things and comes up with new things that do work. The Swiffer mops have turned out to be pretty bad- they push dirt around,but the new steam mops really work. Voila- people purchase what works and the market responds.

America is rich and powerful- the place where all the people from Central America want to come to find their "dreams" apparently. It is not bureaucracy that created this wonderful place where dreams come true, it is capitalism. People striving to do better and to create more are what built this country, not irresponsible change perpetrated by bureaucrats.

Every time you listen to these change agents you are throwing something away. If it's gay marriage then you are being asked to throw away the sanctity of traditional marriage between a man and a woman. You are opening marriage to any possibility, from two wives or two husbands or more, to someone being married to both a man and a woman. The bedrock of the society, the family, could very well be destroyed in this chaos. If it's legalizing Marijuana and Cocaine, you will be throwing away strictures that keep the society somewhat sober, with brains that are not damaged by these substances. If it is Common Core you are being asked to accept you are throwing away the control of local school boards over curriculum and the right to change curriculum and teaching methods over time as the market dictates, instead of what bureaucrats from Washington dictate.

Change requires loss, and those people who understand the dangers and destruction that big change with no accountability or research of outcomes can cause, are the wise ones. All change is definitely not good and tried and true practices should never be turned over lightly.Be careful what you KEEP and what you THROW AWAY and don't let the change agents intimidate you with their name calling!!

THE HEART OF THE IDEOLOGY

Do you think the resignation of Eric Shinseki will fix the Veterans Administration? I don't want to disappoint anyone, but his resignation is unlikely to do a thing. The HEART OF THE IDEOLOGY is that government can do all things and fix all things- but here's a not very well kept secret for you- IT CAN'T!! It was interesting to hear the pundits on the stock shows today "The only thing government can do is throw money at it!!". Well, the Federal Government has been throwing a whole lot of money- and oh my- look where we are now!!

Nancy Pelosi whipped through the news with her pathetic hesitant voice "You see, more people have healthcare now with this beautiful healthcare bill". Hmm- seriously, do you think this congresswoman, who has made herself a MULTIMILLIONAIRE while serving, and used a GOVERNMENT JET TO GO HOME TO SAN FRANCISCO WITH HER FRIENDS AND FAMILY EVERY WEEK WHEN SHE WAS SPEAKER, really gives a tinkers damn about how many people have healthcare? She certainly wasn't crying a river about all the people who have LOST THEIR HEALTHCARE BECAUSE OF OBAMA CARE, or all the people WHO HAVE TO PAY MORE FOR HEALTHCARE BECAUSE OF OBAMA CARE, or all the people WHO HAVE HAD THEIR RELIGIOUS RIGHTS VIOLATED BECAUSE OF OBAMA CARE, etc. Nancy Pelosi and her compatriots want control, and they want the power and money that comes to them with that control, that's what they want , and as long as we give them that power, we are the suckers that will pay for it.

Someone said that big government works for bureaucracy, not for the people they are supposed to be serving. Well, of course bureaucrats work to serve themselves. Here in Helena we have a superintendent who is trying to take away our neighborhood schools. Helena is a beautiful little town with tree lined streets, and the children walk to school. He has moved here from out of town and is looking to move again- why would he give a rip about our little town? He's looking for his next promotion like the last superintendent did. Colorado here he comes.! Get your 4/3 schools (500 student institutions) with all the federally pushed wide hallways, foyers and hexagonal classrooms, and voila! you are a success and to hell with the destruction you leave behind you.

Bureaucrats work for their salaries and their bonuses and just hope the scandals don't break out on their watch! Private markets compete for market share and only succeed when they serve the public well.

The larger the government gets the less accountability you have and the more corruption you have. Hmm- let me think- how many scandals has Obama known "nothing" about?He was briefed about the Veterans Administration right after he took office- even campaigned about how veterans shouldn't have  waiting lists- but when the scandal hit he said the government was just too big for him to know about these things. The government is just too big for him to know what the NSA and the IRS and the Foreign Affairs (Benghazi) and the Justice Department are doing either.

Can we get this straight for once - THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS JUST TOO DARN BIG!! The other day a student refused to take an entree at lunch "I'm on the special program so it doesn't matter" i.e. her lunch was free so no one was paying for it!! Then she threw her uneaten apple and milk in the trash too, right in front of the teachers and called home for her mother to bring her food, which her mother did about an hour later. That's one of the bad results of  THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GONE WILD!! Now they want to put preschool into the public schools- all the little private preschools will go out of business and the TAXPAYERS WILL BE PAYING FOR DAYCARE FOREVER MORE!! Do you think they will stop with four year olds? No, they will never stop. Nothing is enough. Head Start's written agenda is to service children FROM THE WOMB!!

The only thing that is going to stop all this madness is to change THE HEART OF THE IDEOLOGY. Government can not do and fix all things. Big government has very bad consequences- including debt, failed economies, social destruction and corruption.LET'S CHANGE THE HEART OF THE IDEOLOGY TO FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM BEFORE ALL THE NANCY PELOSI'S OF THE WORLD HAVE ALL THE MONEY AND ALL THE CONTROL AND WE THE PEOPLE ARE LEFT COMPLETELY HELPLESS.

THIS GREAT COUNTRY

Do you ever get tired of seeing your country bashed by our friends on the left? I sure do. The most recent extravaganza into America bashing is the teacher "training" conference where teachers are told that "America is a racist nation FROM ITS INCEPTION!" My, my,- I guess no other culture or country has practiced slavery FROM ITS INCEPTION. But then again, maybe almost all countries and cultures have practiced slavery at one time.

Then again, what nation has practiced freedom and risen to the heights of affluence and success that America has? Oh, that's right- America did that by "taking advantage" of others. Yeah, taking advantage by giving them jobs where they had none before. Kind of like Cuba- supposedly all the Americans that used to vacation their were "taking advantage" of all those waiters, waitresses, hotel maids and trinket sellers. Now the left trumpets tourism as a "clean industry". Go figure- the arguments change daily to meet whatever agenda they are selling at the time.

In Helena, and I presume across the nation, the schools are running into their own arguments at warp speed now. Every year they celebrate "Walk to School Day" for the benefit of some nonprofit in Washington- these people have jobs just to promote "Walk to School Day". Now the new push is for 500 students in a school which will put most of the kids in Helena on the bus. Oh well, " We didn't really mean it- now we want the kids to be bussed."Hmmm. Then there's the home visits. You see we need home visits so that students and their parents can feel"comfortable" at their school. Whoops- we're closing your school, putting your child on a bus, and sending him/her across town away from their family and neighborhood to participate in a 500 student institution. Well, that's comfortable for the student right? You see, it doesn't matter if what we say makes sense. Just do it. We are always right.

In THIS GREAT COUNTRY we used to believe in FREEDOM. We used to believe in the INDIVIDUAL. We used to believe that children belonged to THEIR FAMILY. We used to believe that people could decide for THEMSELVES what was best for them. We used to believe in FREE SPEECH. We used to believe in the FREE MARKET SYSTEM where competition brought the good of all- not "angels" in government as Thomas Jefferson would say. Thomas Jefferson had this to say about self governance ,"Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him?"There are many on the left who will not believe in individuals and families. Do they think they or their government are these "angels"? By the way, families actually can and do feed their children!! Could it be that these large 500 student schools that are supposedly "Centers of Community" are actually taking our students away from their homes, making their community the Government? Is "community" really just a code word to mean consensus for government agendas?

Is everything perfect in the world of freedom? No, not at all. There will always be poor people and rich people, responsible people and some who are not as responsible. But the argument is that PEOPLE CAN GOVERN THEMSELVES AND TAKE CARE OF THEIR OWN FAMILIES. FREEDOM AND FREE MARKETS ARE THE BEST WAY TO ACHIEVE THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. FREE MARKETS HAVE PROVEN THEMSELVES A SUCCESS. LARGE GOVERNMENTS HAVE PROVEN THAT THEY BECOME CORRUPT AND BANKRUPT AND ULTIMATELY FAIL.

Today we see our government failing everywhere, from Obama Care to the Veterans Administration,from the IRS scandal to the national debt. We can not continue on this way. Federal programs have not improved our schools, our society, our economy, our poverty rates or our families.The idea of the rugged individual taught perseverance, hard work, and personal responsibility. These things are often scoffed at by the people on the left, but the truth is, we were doing better under these principals.

In many ways, believe it or not, the left and the right are not that far apart. We care for our future and that of our children. Like government unions, the ideas of Marxism have become corrupt and destructive. It's time for our friends on the left to take a long hard look at what they have done and admit their failures. It's time for our friends on the left to quit listening to hype and realize what a great nation we have and how much we stand to lose.

Let's go back to local control of our schools and paying wages that we can afford, not wages that unions demand and pay for with corrupt donations to the democrats that get them that largesse (remember unions get a percentage of every salary increase). Our children are losing their schools because the unions have been paid off. Our veterans are not getting care because THREE HUNDRED employees, paid by the taxpayer, are doing nothing but union work. Let's go back to freedom and local control. Let's go back to truth instead of obfuscation and lies that change arguments like clock work. Let's go back to the belief in OURSELVES instead of the government in this GREAT COUNTRY OF OURS. Oh, and yes, let's go back to believing in our national heroes like GEORGE WASHINGTON, who taught us about freedom. He really is more important to our nation than Elvis Presley or Tecumseh (American Heroes books being taught to our children). These people have their place, but they are not the heroes that built this nation, and our children need to start learning that.

F A I T H

FAITH , generally speaking, is a good thing. It's important to have FAITH in yourself, it gets you through the hardest times and brings you to the greatest pinnacles of success. FAITH in your family and friends, sometimes, gets down to loyalty. FAITH in your religion is paramount, it brings you the comfort of knowing that God loves you and that everything is not about the here and now. But, FAITH  MISAPPLIED WILL BRING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY AND THIS COUNTRY TO DISASTER.

You often hear that liberalism is a religion. I believe that it is. The "liberals" believe in global warming like others might believe in God. But, God is not of this world. God does not have to be proven in this world. In this country you can believe what you want. No one is going to tax or regulate your business based on your belief in God. "Liberals" have found however, that they can control you in every moment of your life - BY LAW- using their own religious ideologies like global warming (recently changed to "climate change"!). They can control how you do your business and how much you pay in taxes. They can control what kind of car you drive and how much you pay for gas. They can control how much you pay to heat your house. They can control whether there are jobs available and how much the energy company can pay - after the energy company pays the government for the privilege of doing business on their own land. The list goes on- but the point is- this is FAITH- not fact. The computer models that were set up to determine global warming have been complete failures. The earth hasn't gotten warmer in 20 years. The ice caps that were supposed to be melted by 2013 are still there. But the religion of global climate change goes on and doubles down "this is settled science", "There can be no questioning. The discussion is over" !! The Federal government can control the states. Private property rights can be altered or taken away. All based on FAITH.

School reform is based on this same FAITH. SCHOOL REFORM HAS NOT WORKED AT ALL AND YET WE ARE DOUBLING DOWN ON IT!! In Helena things have gotten so bad that ,based on statewide testing, this educated and affluent town of government largesse is TENTH out of thirteen AA districts!! Our Helena High does even worse- they're TWELFTH in math. One of the ladies who advocated for the school reform "Goals 2000", twenty years ago, is now blaming our neighborhood schools for the failure!! Yes indeed, the schools would do better if they "had more money" and they could "have more money" if there were less schools!! It takes your breath away.

We had enough money in Helena, and we had better scores, before Hillary Clinton's Goal 2000 school reform movement. Now, the proposal is to close half of our elementary schools and put kids on busses all over town. Big 500 student institutions are now supposedly the answer to better schools. Unfortunately for those of us who live in Helena, this is a liberal town and voting is not based on FACTS, it is based on FAITH. No matter how bad the schools get, the majority will vote for more money and allow their neighborhood schools to be closed. Our poor students in the sixth ward will now have no school at all. They will be bussed hither and yon to spread their treasured free lunch status. You see, the Federal Government doles out money for programs based on Free and reduced lunch. Fifty percent free and reduced lunch makes you eligible. Why, if you break those kids up, instead of having one school with 100% free and reduced lunch, you can have more schools with the sought after 50%!!

Though the "liberals" can see clearly, by the statistics, that the answer to success is not government programs, they will not let go of their FAITH that government programs are the answer. They have tried every government program under the sun for twenty years and our schools have fallen to their lowest academic ratings ever- but this does not for a minute diminish their FAITH!!

FAITH has its place, but a husband who comes home drunk every night should eventually convince his wife that he needs help. In this world of Caesar, we need proof, we need facts, to lead our way to success. People should not be able to cover up and lie and obfuscate to control the people. Failed ideas like free school should be in the trash bin of history right along with failed theories like man made global warming. This is why big government doesn't work. In the free market failed ideas fail. In government failed ideas have advocates and sources of money. Lies, coverup, and blindness to truth keep the failed ideas going and going.

Some people have said that the American people get the government they deserve. FAITH has its place but it isn't in our government. As long as we continue to allow these leftists to control us with their FAITH, we will continue to fail in our schools, in our economy,  in our society, and everywhere that they practice FAITH INSTEAD OF FACTS!!

MEAN PEOPLE

When I was in California recently I saw an old faded bumper sticker that brought me back to the nineties - it said "Mean People Suck". Gee, what a well thought out and mature statement (not really), but it got me to thinking.

First of all, who uses the word "suck" in a derisive and slang fashion? The answer to that would be immature people without a wide vocabulary. Perhaps these people without a wide vocabulary have some limitations on their ability to think things through thoroughly too. I'm going to help these people think things through a little more thoroughly here. It is apparent that there is a large segment of our society that needs to get educated and to grow up, for the defense of the nation.

I was a MEAN mother many times. I made my kids do their homework, go to bed on time, practice their piano, and often didn't give them everything they wanted. I wanted my children to grow up prepared for the world. I wanted them to have the discipline and education to succeed. I was often a MEAN teacher too. I required that my students did their work, and if they didn't succeed they were in with me at recess doing the redo. You see, I cared about whether they understood their work and were ready for the next lesson. I cared about whether they succeeded and had the education they needed to be successful in the next grade and in life. I taught them to believe in themselves, but I also taught them that they had to have discipline and work hard to succeed. You often hear that the meanest teachers were the best. When people grow up and they look back at their teachers and their parents, they often see that what they thought was mean at the time was really the best thing for them.

Enabling people is not kindness. Rewarding addictions and lack of hard work and discipline is fatal for that person, for our American society, and for our country. If America is to be strong and successful once again we need a population that rewards success. We need schools that get back to the philosophy of  personal responsibility and respect for the teacher, the school, and adults in general. Students who are led to believe that they are on the same playing field as their elders are doomed for failure. Not only will they not learn from their elders because they think they know it all, they also will be in schools that have no discipline because the culture of the school is not demanding respect.

Today, in school, our liberal friends think they are being so "kind". They have programs to "fix" everything. They have the teachers running around doing home visits and social workers for all kinds of family interventions. They have the Bully program, the Buddy program and all the Behavior Initiative programs in every state. They have the Dare program and Sex Education programs and daycare and all the food programs. It finally got so bad "we have to have" the Common Core program because, actually, our schools were completely failing the students. Progressives destroy things and then they always have the "answer" to repair them- and that answer is always more government control. At least they are admitting their failures, though certainly Common Core WILL NOT FIX WHAT IS WRONG. In fact, Common Core is on track to DESTROY 200 years of education in this country.

Terrence Moore points out in his book The Story Killers that the most important thing kids learn in life is to be a good person. All the education in the world won't make you succeed if you are a failure as a person. If you don't know right from wrong and you don't have the integrity and discipline to lead an ordered life, you are doomed for failure. Our schools are not teaching discipline and respect, they are teaching victim hood. The Dare program is telling kids they have a choice, not that it is absolutely wrong to do drugs. The Bully program often has the perpetrator as the victim and the student trying to mind his own business as the villain. Our sex education programs sexualize our children young and teach them tolerance for promiscuity. The Buddy program pairs up our at risk students with teenagers, not always the best influence for a young child, and the parents don't get to do the screening.

In class students are taught their opinions have the same value as the teachers and they have the right to suck on water bottles and leave the class for the bathroom all the time. They are taught that curriculum time is really not all that important, after all, it is interrupted constantly by the school itself.

It is not money that is going to fix our schools. It is not programs that are going to fix our society. The answers are not that hard and they go back to the original Ten Commandments that God gave us. Teach discipline and respect for teachers and the school. Show leadership and demand performance. You can't "fix" every family. Get rid of the hyperbole- as I've said so many times- if parents weren't feeding their kids they would be dead before they made it to school age. When the liberals have a program that requires parent input- voila! parents show up. Parents DO care about their children.

There are enduring truths and America needs to get back to them. Give up the programs and the corruption and lobbyists will go away. Turn "kindness" into a demand for respect, leadership, integrity and hard work. MEAN PEOPLE DO NOT SUCK, THEY OFFER THE LEADERSHIP THAT WILL MAKE OUR SCHOOLS AND OUR SOCIETY SUCCESSFUL ONCE AGAIN.

TEXTBOOKS

Back in the days when we were making steady progress in our schools we had faith in our TEXTBOOKS. Why did we have faith in our TEXTBOOKS? We had faith in our TEXTBOOKS because we understood that the people who wrote these books were PROFESSIONALS THAT SPENT THEIR DAYS DEVELOPING THE BEST WAY TO TEACH CURRICULUM  and that TEXTBOOKS TAUGHT A SUBJECT AT GRADE LEVEL COMPREHENSIVELY AND INCREMENTALLY, AND LOGICALLY BUILT KNOWLEDGE!! Teachers knew that their job was to DELIVER the curriculum, not to write the TEXTBOOK! Lesson planning, where teachers design a LESSON, is entirely different than creating the curriculum everyday.

Teachers worked on committees to write a curriculum and then found the best TEXTBOOKS they could to deliver the best education. They had a scope and sequence as a guide, but THE TEXTBOOK GAVE THE DAY TO DAY STRUCTURE THAT DELIVERED LOGICAL AND COMPREHENSIVE LEARNING. Fast forward to today and you will see superintendents SNEERING at TEXTBOOKS !! Yes, these geniuses have taken up the ultra left Common Core rhetoric of demeaning the use of TEXTBOOKS. The left has been sneering at TEXTBOOKS and trying to get rid of them for as long as I can remember. As I have said on this blog before, their ideas NEVER change. They do not see failure as an obstacle- anymore than the fact that the earth has not gotten warmer in TWENTY YEARS stops the global warming catastrophe crowd. The left just keeps marching on in the same track. The people can stop them with the vote- that's the only thing that will finally stop their failed ideas from marching on and continuing to destroy education in this country.

Teachers at the high schools here are being told they are "isolationists" if they want to teach the comprehensive curriculum. These genius administrators, following Jeb Bush's Common Core, "Just aren't sure the kids need to learn all of that." What do they want the teachers to do instead? They want the Calculus teacher to develop "collaborative units" with the English teacher. This is not a joke. I am dead serious. I heard this first hand. These jokers, who by the way have no research evidence for any of this, are trying to break down 200 years of education in this country. Meanwhile, my daughter who teaches Life Sciences in a college, is finding college students that don't even know what electrons and protons are!! Thirty percent of our Montana graduates have to be remediated in Math!!

Collaborative units are nothing more than little hands on projects, that at best, in a good curriculum, can add reinforcement. Across subject lines they aren't even that. This is the same "whole language" garbage the left has been trying to sell for fifty years. The same whole language idea that NEVER has shown success. And yet, they will take the valuable time of our high school students and spend it experimenting- whiling away days with no real learning progress. Learning is about building a foundation of knowledge in specific curricular areas- whether the left likes it or not. The question is, when will the American people step in and stop this destruction in our public schools?

TEXTBOOKS deliver comprehensive knowledge in a teach, practice, review and test format.TEXTBOOKS build information. TEXTBOOKS require accountability from teachers and students. TEXTBOOKS should be the foundation of classroom learning. They should be sought after competitively so that bad textbook companies, like Common Core's Pearson, are put out of business ,and the best TEXTBOOKS are purchased. There is not enough room here to tell about all the ridiculous wastes of curricular time the left has thought up, and that our even more ridiculous board members are so proud of. It doesn't take a neuroscientist to tell you that kids need on task uninterrupted structured curriculum time to learn, but our school board members, who are so proud of themselves, just can't see it at all. Why, they have programs!! Meanwhile, The Common Core tyrants, get to CHANGE THE TESTS ANY TIME AND IN ANYWAY THEY WANT TO!! How can Common Core fail? They'll just change the test- and voila! the kids can do it now!! What a wonderful world. Make your children's teachers stick to the TEXTBOOKS and make sure they are GOOD TEXTBOOKS!!